Don't use Sendle!! Horrible service and EBay no help despite promoting them!!

[the737front]

So EBAY just 'charged' me a refund of $884 they gave to a buyer, despite telling me (transcripted and all) I wont be affected after he claimed not receiving a parcel even if they refund him - originally the rep said it doesn't need a signature. Then, suddenly got messages with threats from ebay that I WILL be charged if I don't supply evidence or signature ASAP. Now - I DID buy a sendle 'signature on delivery' label through ebay - but ebay who is so integrated with them won't cooperate with them directly, kept asking me for a 'proof of delivery' that they can't provide - because Sendle are so bad! So they took money they owe me from another sale, put me in 'overdraft' situation on their system - AND for some reason charged me $425 from my CC without any context, despite not buying anything! So now I had to block my CC! I never had issues with ebay selling or buying in over 15 years , this is just outragious.

Now.. about Sendle .. where to begin?.. you can only get them on chat or email - NO PHONE NUMBER. Trying on chat is basically useless - you wait 2-3 hours for them to answer! I only found out about them and used them because eBay promote them and you can use the ebay systems to create postage labels. they also have promotions of free labels or highly discounted labels to make them more attractive. You buy and print those DIRECTLY from eBay.

Sendle started an 'investigation' about missing parcel - saying the buyer initiated it - a week and a half ago - and claimed that despite me paying for a signature on delivery service - their driver have their 'discretion' whether or not to take signatures and due to COVID they might not want contact etc - Sendle - this is December 2022!! this excuse is OVER! And I bought a service with certain requirements I expect you to adhere to - anyway 10 days after they started their investigation - ebay didn't 'wait' despite me supplying evidence that this investigation is happening - and just 'closed the case' - AND refunded the buyer at my expense! of course, after 7pm queensland time there's no one to talk to - just the biggest e commerce company in the world after all but they can't have 24 hours support.

As for Sendle - As I write this I still wait at 10:25pm for a sendle rep to talk to me on chat, that I started at 8:30PM.

Btw - despite their tight integration with ebay - twice now ebay reps had the audacity to tell me Sendle is 'not in partnership with ebay' - sticking to legal semantics when in English that's exactly what they are - they cooperate with each other and integrate certain services and ebay actively promote them and sell their shipping product to me directly through their system - hence they are in a business partnership! but when the **bleep** hits the fan - I am left to coordinate with them instead of them talking directly with eachother and get victimised by both - when I'm the one who pay dearly to ebay (they take a huge fee out of my sales) and sendle and now left to fend for myself. 

DON'T USE THEM!! Only use Auspost with full insurance. And the most important thing - NEVER USE EBAY TO SELL ANYTHING! Thank god we now have Amazon with Prime in Australia and most things I get a day after I order them which is also great.

This is going to ACCC and QCAT.

[goldair1_4]

I would never use Sendle for anything over $50,i used them once,but that was for a cheap item,and it was an excellent service,delivered interstate within 48 hours

One parcel i recently sent cost me over $40 to send,and i could have used a free Sendle label,but i just can't trust these 2 bob couriers they use.
Stick with Aus Post for sure

[oddsandendsoz]

Australia Post is not without its faults though. Last year over $10k in parcels were 'stolen' by one of their drivers from my business. Fortunately, they were all insured and AP did reimburse after a lengthy compensation process and given their delivery times were pushed back due to COVID it took longer than normal to be able to begin the compensation process. 

I repeatedly asked AP to investigate the issue as I was certain that these parcels were not merely getting 'lost' as they wanted to claim but that they were being 'stolen'. Finally, after being able to convince AP that there was indeed a pattern by using percentages and stats, they looked into it and reading between the lines, did acknowledge that there was suspicious patterns and that disciplinary action would follow an investigation. 

So although AP are generally reliable and have a 'lost' rate that is quite low, there are 'pockets' that emerge that can cause a tremendous amount of stress. When I called the Postal Ombudsmen for advice, they also advised that they were receiving many more 'complaints' regarding AP and that sellers like myself were of the belief that 'contractors' were to blame. AP came good in the end, but at this time of year and contractors being hired, don't believe that AP are flawless either. 

[the737front]

I'm sure the are the same, everytime there's a contractor in the 'loop' instead of direct employees this kind of **bleep** happens. It's disappointing that Australia post goes the same way. I did btw this morning got an email saying 'you won your case!' because ebay reps told me that supplying the label (that they printed for me! through their system!) would suffice and then other reps changed their mind and asked for signature. Sendle started a chat with me at 12:15AM or so, after waiting from 8:30PM. It was mere luck that I even saw their correspondance - their chat doesn't even have a 'ding' sound when they finally get online!! the rep didn't even identify - I was sure for a few messages that a bot is talking to me - and as you can guess I was fuming. After 15 minutes he sent me a picture of the item at the right address (from looking in google maps streetview it looks like the right house) and I was livid - I told him I don't care about a photo of an item left there (btw from streetview it also looks like it can be seen by anyone passing by and get stolen) - I expect signature on delivery to be signature on delivery! YET to hear back and don't expect anything soon. I will complain to ACCC no matter what the outcome. 

[oddsandendsoz]

Yes, the use of 'contractors' although a necessity at peak times, certainly in my experience increases the 'issues' that might otherwise be quite rare at 'normal' times of the year. 

Admittedly, apart from the issues I was having last year, AP have overall been excellent in the years I have used them since 2014, especially the 'success rate' for deliveries. And I agree, trying to deal with Sendle when issues do arise is not easy at all. I guess the adage 'you get what you pay for' really does apply. 

But I agree with your underlying point in the OP, eBay do seem to be 'actively promoting' them, including to automatically address any defects that arise from the Sendle 250g parcels as regards to INR. For those less experienced, sellers could easily believe that eBay is endorsing Sendle, which could be perceived as Sendle being a trustworthy and safe carrier. That said, I have had good experiences with Sendle, but like your experience, their 'ignoring' of Signature on Delivery means I can rarely use them for the items I sell. 

[justkidzbiz]

Same, I used sendle to send a waterski. Advertised “with insurance”. Well, I don’t  know what the driver did to it (probably threw heavy items on it), but it arrived very damaged, despite packaging with umpteen layers of bubble wrap.

contacted Sendle and was told yes, insurance was included but I would have to pay an excess of $150. What a crock of carp.  Their driver damaged the item, so they should have been responsible.

[misflutterby2679]

I always prefer using sendle over Aus Post and have done since their inception. I have found they are consistently lot cheaper, alot faster, alot more reliable, their tracking system is excellent, never had an item go missing that wasn't tracked down via investigation, and they collect from your own home. Every courier will have issues from time to time, though I have found their service to be supremely superior to aus post for me in every way. I detest using aus post, from the need to lodge over the counter, reduced hours of operation, the ever increasing delivery times, and items lost, the beurocratic bull**bleep** of claiming lost items because authority to leave means , leave wherever they want to. The lack of insurance coverage without all the bells and whistles that push the price up even higher. The fact that only sellers can claim, despite tracking showing item was sent. Or if a customer tries to claim for damages, ofcourse its on individual assessment and they have no protocol they need to follow so refuse liability.

[oddsandendsoz]

I can see why some prefer Sendle to AP for sure. Again, I think much depends on the quality of the drivers you have in your area (both my drivers Couriers Please who Sendle use mostly in my area, and Aramex are very good). 

I think personally for items up to $100 or so, Sendle is a good option but for anything over that I generally choose AP. Sendle don't really do the Signature on Delivery I need and it often gets 'over-ridden' by their drivers. AP sent me an email the other day though asking me if I wanted to 'allow them to safe drop' my deliveries here, so it seems they are trying to get as many people to consent to that as possible. Hopefully the Signature on Delivery will remain as a true SOD though. 

The insurance process between Sendle and AP seems to be pretty similar. I have not had to use the Sendle compensation process but a friend did and it was pretty much the same as AP; an invoice from supplier etc for the 'wholesale cost' or 'replacement value'. I will admit, with AP aside from having to wait to be eligible for a compensation claim, the process was quite easy and the payouts pretty pain free, even at $1000's value. 

If you have an AP My Post account you can have parcels 'picked up' now, but there is a cost and I cannot quite remember how much it is, around $11 which works out OK if you have multiple parcels. I haven't used this but this was suggested to me as a 'possible fix' to the 'issues' I was having with lost parcels that turned out to be an AP thief. 

I think it all depends on the items you sell, and the value of those items and quite possibly the ease of being able to provide the 'wholesale invoices' they require when something goes wrong. 

[bowdelesle_zrnwdyir7]

Several times now, Ebay has come back and charged me for labels at a higher price, claiming that I made them incorrectly, even though I have screenshots proving I selected the correct label weight. If those had gone missing, I would only have been given the tiniest insurance amount.

Thank you so much for your warning! I will never use sendle again.

[sugar249]

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@bowdelesle_zrnwdyir7 wrote:

Several times now, Ebay has come back and charged me for labels at a higher price, claiming that I made them incorrectly, even though I have screenshots proving I selected the correct label weight. If those had gone missing, I would only have been given the tiniest insurance amount.

Thank you so much for your warning! I will never use sendle again.

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You say the correct label weight,  but were the dimensions correct.  Most people forget its based on the volumetric weight, not the actual weight.  volumetric weight is normally higher.